Bones & All and "The Coroner's Bride" Redux
Two items of business, dear readers. Firstly, this (in case you didn't see it on social media recently):
It is a wraparound paper-art cover (YES YES YES!!!)
BONES & ALL cover time! The @stmartinspress art team is blowing me away. Truly not overstating: you have not seen a cover like this, ever.— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) June 20, 2014
The ARCs have been printed, and I should be getting an expedited copy in the very near future. I can't WAIT to hold this book in my hands (the advance copy and the hardcover). It's a whole new level of special.
And while we're on the subject—if you'd like to preorder the book, I've updated the Bones & All info page with online retailer links!
@cometparty ugh, I check goodreads for the cover every day. I WANNA SEE THE THING!!!— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) July 16, 2014
Second item of business: I am very excited to announce that my first published short story, "The Coroner's Bride," is now available to download on iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Scribd, and Amazon/Kindle. I hope you like it, because there's going to be a collection someday—following the same heroine throughout her life, from one supernatural mystery to the next. I'm psyched to write it!
Why @peachandblue is my Twitter BFF: check out this BONES & ALL magnet she made me!! pic.twitter.com/fuEetmY04J— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) August 26, 2014
Books & Chocolate
Tagged by my pal Jordan at Sweatpants and Coffee, I offer this little book-and-chocolate pairing.* * *The biannual Harvard Books warehouse sale is one of the unexpected pleasures of my new life in Boston. The pre-Christmas sale made me feel like a kid again: so many delicious books! Free samples from Taza Chocolate! The warehouse event inevitably becomes a be-your-own-Santa kind of shopping excursion.
Having been a Victorian two lifetimes ago (I'm kidding...I think), the other thing that gets me in the cozy Christmas spirit is an old-fashioned ghost story. Will Storr vs. the Supernatural might not fit that description exactly, but this book turned out to be just as satisfying as anything by M.R. James or Sheridan Le Fanu. Storr, a British journalist, understands that a skeptic, in the proper sense of the term, does not reject strange phenomena out of hand because it conflicts with his own worldview. (The author interviews a psychiatrist, but the doctor dismisses all talk of supernatural phenomena as symptomatic of mental illness, which actually makes no sense from a scientific standpoint, right? Everything is a mystery until scientists figure out how to observe and measure it.) A true skeptic maintains an open mind while pursuing all rational explanations. And while Storr, in all the nights he spends in reputedly haunted houses or tagging after demonologists on their rounds, never sees a "full-body apparition," there is one freaky episode in particular that pretty much convinces him there's something to all this ghost stuff. The author tells us enough about himself and his history to give him a comforting air of the everyman, and his sense of humor tempers some of the more unpleasant anecdotes and characters we meet in the book. Even with the chapters on Satanists and religious nuts Will Storr vs. the Supernatural is an absolute delight, and I'm really glad I stumbled upon it at the warehouse sale.* * *I'd heard of Taza, but I hadn't yet tried any of their chocolate when I got to the warehouse last December. Taza is fair trade and vegan, they're based in Somerville, and any one of their gourmet flavors might send you into a fit of ecstasy. Cinnamon and gingerbread are my favorites, but I see why people love guajillo chili. I had a Hershey's childhood, and I'm making up for it now.* * *Thanks to Jordan and Sweatpants & Coffee—this was a lot of fun. And now I tag Deirdre and Erica!
Where We Make: Jordan Rosenfeld
[Funny how, in the writing and arts online community, we can have such warm feelings towards people we've never met in person! Jordan Rosenfeld wrote the loveliest piece about Mary Modern for Writer's Digest back in the summer of 2007, and I have considered her a friend ever since. Here's a peek inside her awesomely colorful workspace.]
“Wow, it’s bright!”
This is the most common opening gambit of the people that step foot into my office. And it is bright: upon renovation, my intent was to take it out of its masculine dark “Mad Men study” feel and shift it into a feminine, creative pale turquoise (my favorite color)—something that conjured the underwater realm of mermaids of my childhood fantasies. As paint colors go, it’s really more aquamarine—a color that bounds up and licks you in the face like an overeager puppy. Compared to the sedate rest of my house in understated beige, crimson and ochre, it’s a room of one’s own for damn sure. Mine.
I am drawn to bright colors like bees to the bright flowers in my garden. Somewhere I read that blues inspire creativity more than any color, and all it takes is a few minutes sitting in its cheery marine tones and I feel ready to produce. Once the second layer of paint had dried, however, I will admit to a slight pang of regret. What had I done? It was almost childishly bright—a room fit for a child, not a functional adult. But once I added colored panels to the built in doors, it changed from “Wow, bright” to cheerful—a room I can’t ever have a bad mood in. Sleek white shelves and floral carpet that felt almost divinely conjured to match my color scheme have since brought together a room that is now my favorite place to be in the house (convenient that it’s my workplace). More so, there was something about taking the step to let my external world match the wild, messy creativity that takes up so much of my internal landscape. My six year old thinks it’s cool, too.
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Jordan Rosenfeld is the author of Forged in Grace, Make a Scene, and Write Free, and she is the Managing Editor of Sweatpants & Coffee. Connect with her on Facebook and on Twitter at @jordanrosenfeld.
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[Where We Make origin story and submission guidelines; all entries here.]
How going vegan can make you more creative
I'm very excited to report that I have a guest post on my friend and mentor Victoria Moran's blog today!
When I went vegan in April 2011, I began the most joyfully creative phase of my life so far. I’m a novelist, and I used to have frustrating “trough periods” in between books—but since that spring I’ve written three novels in three years and the ideas (great ideas!) keep on coming. So if a fellow artist talks about feeling blocked, I share my “vegan conversion” story and ask if they’ve ever considered a connection between diet and creative output.
There is significant scientific research to indicate that a diet heavy in animal protein contributes to plaque buildup in the brain—read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, if you haven’t already—but the psychological changes that occur after switching to a plant-based diet are much more immediate and recognizable. Here are some thoughts on how and why going vegan can make you more creative... (read more)
Scrapes with Scapes, and a recipe for Beet and Carrot Salad
"I shouldn't say there was a great deal" was Marilla's encouraging answer. "I'm sure Mrs. Allan was never such a silly, forgetful little girl as you are."
"No; but she wasn't always so good as she is now either," said Anne seriously. "She told me so herself—that is, she said she was a dreadful mischief when she was a girl and was always getting into scrapes. I felt so encouraged when I heard that. Is it very wicked of me, Marilla, to feel encouraged when I hear that other people have been bad and mischievous?"
—L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Week two of my Enterprise farmshare included beets, tomatoes, various greens, and a dozen scapes. I'd heard of scapes before, but for me (like most people) they fell into the "what the heck do I DO with them?" category. Sure, you can always just chop ’em up and saute, but that's boring. I decided on a pesto recipe from Oh She Glows, which incorporates an extremely tasty recipe for vegan "parmesan." 
The pesto did not turn out according to plan, however. That's because the recipe calls for three scapes, and I used all twelve. (What was I thinking, you ask? I suppose I wasn't.) So it came out more like a pâté. 
No big deal though, I incorporated half of this pesto-pâté into a perfectly tasty pasta primavera sauce later (didn't take a photo, was at a friend's and forgot my camera) and used the rest of it as a spread or for some added texture on top of a romaine and avocado salad.As for the beets—I was much more sure of myself there: 
Here's a quick recipe for this yummy salad, heavily inspired by the culinary genius of Aussie Kate at Sadhana Forest:
3 beets (setting aside the greens for stew, juicing, or what have you)4 large carrots1 cup peanutsjuice of one lemon (or more, to taste)fistful of mint, finely choppedsalt and pepper to taste
Peel and grate the beets and carrots, process the peanuts (or crush by hand with a mortar and pestle), and mix everything in. Ta da—a light refreshing salad for a day when it's much too hot to cook! Using this many beets and carrots will yield a nice big bowl, ten good side servings at least. 
I tried another new recipe this week for the kale (not dehydrated—baked at 300 degrees for 25 minutes per Oh She Glows), and it turned out great: 
I baked these for a party we were throwing Saturday night, but I ought to have made them later in the day, because they were fairly wilty by the time 8 o'clock rolled around. I just didn't want to be racing around the kitchen as guests were arriving! So I've decided that while kale chips (especially deluxe kale chips) are amazingly delicious, they are probably better suited to movie night on the couch. Next week: another Vegan Ireland round up!
A Very Happy Decade
At the Petty Magic launch party at Glucksman Ireland House, October 2010.
Two thousand four was a big year. I quit my first (and only) "real" job at HarperCollins, went on my first proper road trip (with Kelly B. all around the southwest), and moved to Ireland to get my M.A. in Writing. And ten years ago this month (!!!) I signed with my agent, Kate Garrick, who believed in my potential well before I came up with a saleable manuscript.
Ten years later, I feel luckier than ever to have her. I'm always thinking of Kate when I give other writers advice on finding an agent:
"It's almost like a marriage—you have to find someone you're compatible with taste-wise, someone who is enthusiastic enough about your work to want to represent you for a long time to come, who will advocate for you in every situation but won't make pie-in-the-sky promises."
Even better if that person is also incredibly warm and kind and cares about you personally. I know that if I were ever stranded at the Port Authority at four o'clock in the morning, I could totally rely on Kate to let me crash on her couch. Kate is always professional, yet there is an easygoingness to our relationship that makes the business stuff go that much more smoothly. We've accomplished a good bit over the past ten years, but when I think about how much we'll do over the NEXT ten years, I pretty much dissolve into a puddle of gratitude.
What the Heart Knows To-day
What the heart knows to-day the head will understand to-morrow.
—James Stephens, The Crock of Gold
I've been on a James Stephens kick lately, because my favorite panel in Harry Clarke's Geneva Window illustrates the opening scene from his novel The Demi-Gods. (You will find a description of the panel in Immaculate Heart, my new-new novel; I recently read The Demi-Gods, and honestly, the panel is so glorious that the text inspiring it actually comes up short in comparison. See above!)Anyway, I wanted to share this passage from The Crock of Gold with you.
...The lower animals, as they are foolishly called, have abilities at which we can only wonder. The mind of an ant is one to which I would readily go to school. Birds have atmospheric and levitational information which millions of years will not render accessible to us; who that has seen a spider weaving his labyrinth, or a bee voyaging safely in the trackless air, can refuse to credit that a vivid, trained intelligence animates these small enigmas? and the commonest earthworm is the heir to a culture before which I bow with the profoundest veneration...
Not to take it out of context: the author is satirizing men who spend all their lives reading and pondering what they've read, never exercising their common sense (his protagonist is only known as The Philosopher). That said, it's still a beautiful reminder that there are many types of intelligence, most of which aren't human.
New author photo!
Like I said, my dear friend Anne took my new author photo at Squam—and a big happy shout-out to Jenn, who let us borrow her camera. But before I show you the new pics, I thought I'd post some silly outtakes from the last go-around in June 2010 (thanks, Mumsy!)
I know I'm not the only author who feels as if it's a Big Deal to have my photo taken. This picture is going on the back flap of thousands of copies of your book (not to mention the press materials), so you want to look as good in the picture as you do on your best days in real life.
Something else I should probably mention here: I know a lot of authors get their photos professionally taken, but my agent believes it's better to have a friend or relative take it because you'll end up looking much more relaxed and natural. Anne is a superb photographer—she really is a professional, since she's blogging/writing on a professional basis and her photography is an integral part of that—so I got the best of both! (That said, I love the photos my sister and mother took for Mary Modern and Petty Magic. Those are photographs some great-great-grandniece will pull out of a dusty drawer and say, "Is this the one who wrote books?")
@novaren@noirbettie@flaxandtwine I hear you. I feel like we have to take 100 pictures to get one I'm happy with.— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) May 6, 2014
So here are the new pictures! These three are my favorites, but #1 is my fave of the faves, and my editor agrees. So that's the one going on the jacket, although I will probably use the other ones for social media. I'm totally harnessing the Squam mojo. Thanks again, Anne and Jenn!
This is the book you came here to buy
Saturday night I came home and checked my email and Twitter (I think most of you know this, but I don't have/want a smartphone) and read this awesome tweet:
HOLY SH*T @cometparty wrote a book about a teenage girl who eats people AND ON MY GOD I NEED IT NOW!!!— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 14, 2014
Which grew into this conversation:
@peachandblue@novaren@cometparty it is TOTAL GENIUS— sarah mccarry (@therejectionist) June 15, 2014
@novaren I have, and totally loved it @cometparty@peachandblue— sarah mccarry (@therejectionist) June 15, 2014
@therejectionist !!!! I'm fiendishly jealous. @cometparty@peachandblue— Nova Ren Suma (@novaren) June 15, 2014
@novaren@therejectionist@cometparty ME TOO!!!!!! I WANNA READ THE THING!!!!!— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 15, 2014
@heatherbrewer@cometparty yeah, it's called BONES & ALL anf comes out in March 2015!— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 15, 2014
@peachandblue@novaren@cometparty I am so excited for it to be out in the world so I can make ALL THE PEOPLE read it— sarah mccarry (@therejectionist) June 15, 2014
@peachandblue SOLD! But... March 2015? *sobs* @novaren@cometparty— E.C. Myers (@ecmyers) June 15, 2014
@heatherbrewer@cometparty yeah, it's called BONES & ALL anf comes out in March 2015!— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 15, 2014
@cometparty do you know when ARCs/eARCs will start going out for bloggers and the like?— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 15, 2014
@ecmyers@novaren@cometparty story of my life. You always have to wait for good books! D:— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 15, 2014
@cometparty I appear to have spawned a need for others to read your book too!— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 15, 2014
@cometparty uhh, YES PLEASE! When do we get to see a cover?— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 15, 2014
@cometparty Now there are TWO manuscripts of yours I want to read!!— Nova Ren Suma (@novaren) June 15, 2014
@cometparty let me know when it comes in and I'll make you a magnet and/or pendant with the image on it!— Anna Pett (@peachandblue) June 15, 2014
@novaren@cometparty@therejectionist@peachandblue guys guys I want to read this one too….IS MARCH YETTTTTT.— rachel SIMON VS HSA (@rachelwrites007) June 15, 2014
I can't tell you how psyched I am that people are already so enthusiastic about Bones & All. I know what I said last week about writing first and foremost for myself, and that's definitely true, but hearing (well, seeing) someone say "I read your book, and it is genius" gives me a feeling beyond the pleasure of smoothing out a snarl in the plot or a thousand very good words. It is deeply humbling and deeply satisfying, and I want all of you who've read my novels to know how much I appreciate every good thing you've said about them.
So get excited for March! Galleys will be probably be ready in November, so if you are a book blogger, drop me a line and I'll put you on the list. YAY!!!
But wait. This post isn't over yet.
My friends! They are the best—THE BEST!!!
June Squam 2014, part 2
(June Squam 2014, part 1.)
Retreats like Squam Art Workshops are becoming more popular as people (okay, mostly women) realize how important it is for their emotional and spiritual well being to reconnect with their creativity, not to mention nature: the pines! The stars! The loons calling across the lake at night! You drink it all in and you are replenished.That said, I've noticed some people seem puzzled when I try to explain just how profoundly Squam has changed my life. I almost feel like they want me to justify spending that $1300—there's this implication hanging in the air between us, as if that money were better spent elsewhere. On something, you know, practical.Let me tell you something. The older I get, the more I understand that I can do very little good for anyone else if I am tired and depleted. You want to be with me when I am EXCITED ABOUT LIFE, right? You want some of that joyful energy to rub off on you.Sure, I draw inspiration from lots of places. But when I go to Squam, I "fill up" in the most mindful way—it changes me every time. I want each new experience to change me. That's something I first learned at Harmony Homestead Farm, and it allows me to find meaning in even the most seemingly random encounters.I may overuse the word "random" in casual conversation, but I know nothing truly is. I'll never forget the moment Anne sat down beside me in the playhouse back in June 2011 while the Yarn Harlot was giving one of her typically hilarious talks. Obviously we couldn't introduce ourselves until the talk was over, but we were absolutely communicating without words. I knew her. I knew we were going to be friends—no, that we were already friends, and had been for a very long time.So this year it was mind-blowingly delightful to be able to fall asleep in the same room after reminding each other just how far we've come over the past three years. Anne's blog is more popular than ever, and she is now under deadline with Potter Craft (Random House, NBD!) for Knitting Without Needles, coming out August 2015. I have a new home and a two-book deal under my belt. (Anne moved too, way farther than I did!)Anne's is one of the most satisfying friendships of my life, and you can't put a price tag on that. Squam has given me a wealth of satisfying friendships—Elizabeth and Amy Lou and Kath and Amiee and Jen, plus many more wise and beautiful women. I can't tell you how many times I heard someone call my name, embrace me, compliment my sweater, and how it made me feel to be recognized and appreciated for my creativity. It sounds so simple, but love and joy and unconditional acceptance aren't complex concepts. 
I need to write about Terri's woodworking class and Kerry's drawing class—a BIG breakthrough in Kerry's class especially—but I think I've written enough for one entry. I'll tell you more next week, including more about Sarah Sousa's poetry. (And Anne took my new author photo!! I'm so thrilled! I'll post those pics separately.)
Getting delightfully messy in @kerryannelemon's art class this past weekend at @squamlove: pic.twitter.com/CsvnX27MOF— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) June 9, 2014
It was a parade of smiles last night! Love seeing all my students in their new frocks. #squamartfair… http://t.co/hvXLiwWuyv— cal patch (@hodgepodgefarm) June 8, 2014
@cometparty @flaxandtwine I LOVED spending time with you on this hike. So glad we kept going! It was worth every single mosquito bite :)— Jeanne Lewis (@foundermom) June 9, 2014
Laughter and thoughtful conversation on a sunny lakefront porch with a favorite friend @cometparty… http://t.co/cRXXQPLfQY— Anne Weil (@flaxandtwine) June 7, 2014
The Book of My Heart
I have a guest post on Nova's blog this week! It's for her "book of your heart" series. I wrote about my yet-to-be-published children's novel, The Boy from Tomorrow. Check it out.
I really love this post by Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) about the book of her heart - & why it was worth writing: http://t.co/McuiedUdMG
— Stephanie Burgis (@stephanieburgis) June 9, 2014
Blossoms unspooled from her mouth
(A line from poet Sarah Sousa, who gave readings on Friday and Saturday nights at June Squam.)
Proper recap coming soon!
A DIY Writing Retreat
How to create your own weeklong writing retreat:1. Decide where you want to be. If you are anything like me, you'll find that nature is essential. Fresh air, birdsong, and meandering country lanes are all very conducive to creativity, because you'll have given yourself some extra space to think. 
2. Find a self-catering establishment within your budget. (I recommend Green Lodge, where I stayed in West Cork. And I saved 10% by booking ahead!)3. Get your basic needs taken care of right away (i.e., do your food shopping for the whole week) so you can focus on the work. 
4. Don't be hard on yourself when "the work" turns out to be something other than what you planned. Just go with it. Trust the process. (I had planned to work my way through a substantial revision of my new novel, but I wound up working on short pieces instead. I finished that revision a week after I got home, still nearly a month and a half in advance of my deadline!) 
5. Stop and notice the world around you. Fill up. Enjoy. 
The Rental Heart giveaway!
One night, sitting cross-legged on cushions with the lamps painting the traveller's skin in licks of honey, the empress hears a sound like a heavy curtain pulled back, and knows it is the sound of fate. She has been a beast for so long, and she is tired of trickery and glamour. She wants only this: to rest, to breathe, to live as if it were a choice.
—from "Tiger Palace"
One of many awesome things about my Hawthornden residency last year was getting to know Glasgow-based writer and literary editor Kirsty Logan. During our time at the castle Kirsty wrote hard and read voraciously, and I could always count on her for great book recs. (Gossip from the Forest is still patiently waiting its turn.) During our last week at Hawthornden we each read from our works in progress, and I was enthralled by the first chapter of Kirsty's novel, The Gracekeepers, the story of a floating circus in a world where land is scarce and acrobats have to perform for their food. You know I'm not a huge fan of straight-up literary fiction—as I always say, I get enough real life in real life—so dipping into Kirsty's imagination is a dark and clever treat.Twenty-fourteen has been a fantastic year for Kirsty—not only has she published her first story collection, The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales, but she also found out that The Gracekeepers will be published by Random House on both sides of the Atlantic! The novel is coming out in the spring of 2015, and I'm crossing my fingers Kirsty and I will be able to coordinate an event or two.
The Rental Heart launch, last night, @Lookingglassbks. pic.twitter.com/WWcgtheQ69— Kirsty Logan (@kirstylogan) April 25, 2014
And in the meantime we have The Rental Heart, which subverts classic fairy tale tropes to delightfully disturbing effect. Here's an excerpt from "The Gracekeeper," the jumping-off point for the novel of nearly the same name, in which people mourn their dead for only as long as it takes a caged bird to die:
Weeks have slipped by on my chunk of land and today is the Resting I have been sickening over for months, for always. I choose the biggest grace I can find and rub at its cage until it gleams like fresh pennies, but tears are salted and I must repolish three times before it is ready. I did not visit and now I cannot look at what is in the box, to see her eyes misted over and her jaw sunken back. Instead I say the words over and over in my head until they lose all meaning.
I wonder now why other Resting parties let me say the words. They let me recite them like poems learned at school, knowing that I do not apply them to the scrap of person in the wooden box or to the burning star of their loved one's memory.
So I look down at the box, and I say the words, and for the first time I understand them. My last link to the world has gone. I know what it means to be a stranger.
I'm excited to be giving away a copy of The Rental Heart, which Kirsty signed for me at her launch event last month at Looking Glass Books in Edinburgh. Playing "this or that" with McCormick Templeman was terrific good fun, so we thought we'd do another round. (For straight-up interviews and advice for aspiring writers, check out the links on Kirsty's press page.)
Typing or longhand? Typing, because I am lazy. I do keep a longhand journal though.
Dragons or unicorns? Unicorns, because SHINY.
Faeries or mermaids? Mermaids, because they're sexy but will destroy you.
Cyborgs or astronauts? Cyborgs, because I'm too claustrophobic for spaceships.
Mojito or margarita? Mojito, because sugar plus alcohol is always good.
Wise Children or Nights at the Circus? [since Kirsty has been compared to the great Angela Carter!] Oh, tricky! Let's say a Carter omnibus containing both (cheating, I know…)
Mountains or sea? Sea, because it calms me and brings me back to myself like nothing else can.
Perrault or Andersen? Andersen, because he was a very curious man and his stories are darker than most people realise.
Invisibility or immortality? Invisibility, because I am nosy and want to know everyone's secrets.
Halloween or Christmas? Halloween, because nothing beats a truly scary story.
Castle or spaceship? Castle, because claustrophobia.
Raspberry trifle or double chocolate cake? Trifle, because all the layers mean every mouthful is different.
Time travel: backward or forward? Backward, because I don't think you could go forward and then come back home again.
(...And I'll ask this again since it elicits emphatic reactions...)
Gaiman or Pullman? Pullman, because I want to be friends with Lyra.
To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment answering one of the above "this-or-thats." As always, tweets, RTs, and Facebook shares garner extra entries. Contest closes Friday, May 30th at 5pm ET.Please note that because The Rental Heart is not yet published in the U.S., I'd prefer a reader outside the U.K. to have the chance to read and enjoy this lovely book. If you are in the U.K., please feel free to enter on behalf of a friend. Thanks so much!
...And the winner is @deianara_crush! Thank you to everyone who entered THE RENTAL HEART giveaway (& to @kirstylogan for being so awesome!)— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) May 31, 2014
Thanks so much to everyone who entered—"this-or-that" inspired some really beautiful responses!
A Night at the Book Mart
I have to tell you about the monthly poetry open mic Paddy hosts at a wonderful secondhand bookshop in Sligo called the Book Mart.Paddy had assured me there'd be vegan food at the event, and sure enough, Donal and Adam (who work there) had prepared two really delicious and filling grain and bean salads, with French bread and cashews on the side, and orange juice as an alternative to wine. When I asked Donal if he were vegan himself, he said, "I'm not vegan, no, but why wouldn't I make food that everyone can eat?"BEST. RESPONSE. EVER. 
There was a good turnout (no more space to sit in the back room), and the readings were wonderfully varied—there was quite a bit of original work as well as original translations (I wish I could remember the name of a very young German poet who wrote of the horrors of war as if he'd witnessed them firsthand, yet he'd written the poem at least a year before WWI broke out; he was translated by a gentleman named Frank, and I was really impressed at how he'd managed naturally to preserve the rhymes), prose as well as poetry, and even some science fiction thrown in for good measure.One of my favorites was "Porphyria's Lover," written by Robert Browning and read by Paddy:
This poem reminds me of that line from one of the witchy Discworld books (Witches Abroad, I think?), about a proper "happily ever after" necessitating chopping the bride's and groom's heads off the minute they've said "I do." (Or, ahem, the morning after?) At any rate, all I remembered about Robert Browning was the schmoopiness of his romance with Elizabeth Barrett (though in fairness, "how do I love thee? let me count the ways" was probably not so cheesy back then), so this poem rather shocked me. But Paddy has a delightfully gothic sensibility (he is obsessed with the Grand Guignol, after all), so there was no better person to read it aloud. 
After the break I read a passage from Bones & All, and I think everyone was too taken aback to respond to it apart from "I know this isn't what you were going for, but I really want a hamburger now." (I suspect I'm going to be hearing a lot of that.) 
Where We Make: Mieke Zamora-Mackay
I'm so pleased to introduce Mieke Zamora-Mackay, a South Jersey writer whom I "met" on Twitter in early 2012—the short story is that we came together through our mutual love and appreciation for Nova Ren Suma, though Mieke (pronounced like "Mikey") tells the full story in her introduction to the 11 Questions interview we did that April. We got to see each other every week at the writing workshop series I hosted at my local library, and have kept in touch via Twitter and email ever since. I'm happy to offer her contribution to Where We Make—these are images from real life, not some idealized workspace worthy of a home dec mag, and I really appreciate that. (It's a big part of why I started the series to begin with!)
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Hello! My name is Mieke Zamora-Mackay, and I write. I knit and cook too. Camille is my friend. Unbeknownst to her, she is also a mentor in my creative life. When she launched the “Where We Make” feature, her invitation to participate left me giddy and nervous at the same time. It took me a while to take her up on her offer, due of the static nature of my creative spaces. Yes, I said “spaces."
In my house, I have a designated craft room. But almost nothing is created there. Instead, there are spots that I cycle through when I work on my projects. These are the spaces where I truly make: My office desk. (Only during my lunch breaks, boss! I promise!)
The leather couch in the living room. (My poor back.) The head of the dining table. (Sometimes having the window behind me gives me the heebie-jeebies.) The drivers’ seat of my van. (While waiting for the kids.)
Camille recently posted about writing in a 24-hour coffee shop at Penn Station while waiting for her 4:00 am bus back to Boston. She reminded me of the poem "Air and Light and Time and Space" by Charles Bukowski, which she shared during a workshop* she led. The post and our Twitter conversation later reminded that we as artists must create anywhere, under any conditions. The “now” and “here” is the opportune moment and place.
Finding the perfect space or moment becomes just another excuse not to create.
*I’ve kept a copy of the poem in the inside cover of all my journals since then.
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Find Mieke on Twitter at @mzmackay and on her blog, The Author-in-Training. Every Sunday she posts beautiful and inspiring images to use as writing prompts!
Revision complete!
I'll tell you more about this new book (new-new book?) later. For now, a list of things I will do now that I have finished this revision:
1. Take a shower (heh heh).
2. Get back into my daily yoga/exercise routine.
3. Catch up on email.
4. Send thank-you notes.
5. Get started on my veganize-an-18th-century-Scottish-cookbook project.
6. Read The Demi-Gods by James Stephens.
7. Finish writing a short story.
8. Read the second and third books of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy.
9. Knit a sweater.
10. ...Start in earnest on the new(-new-new) novel.
Magical Destinations in Faerie Magazine
I'm excited to show you a little piece I have in the spring issue of Faerie Magazine!
(It's part of a series on magical destinations, mine being the Fairy Glen.) 
The magazine makes a point of showcasing the work of incredibly talented artists like Frank Tjepkema (above) and Emma Van Leest (below). 
This is a gorgeous ad-free publication—it's unabashedly "girly," and I really admire the lush photography and design. I'd love to publish a longer piece with them at some point. 
(In case anyone is wondering—yes, the lamb-as-accessory thing does squick me out a bit.)
Moldy Oldie: a speech for the Riverton Porch Club
I gave this speech to the Riverton Porch Club in the fall of 2007. There are parts of it I quite like, so I thought it might be worth sharing here.
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I’ve written a novel called Mary Modern, which was published by an imprint at Random House this past July. It’s about a girl, a genetic scientist, who clones her grandmother. Yes, it’s strange, and people are always curious about the novel’s unusual premise and how I came to write it. The story is in no way autobiographical, though the book’s genesis has a lot to do with the women in my family and how they encouraged my love of reading.
A few years ago my aunt Eileen gave me a copy of my great-grandparents’ engagement portrait, which was taken sometime in the ’teens. It’s a very striking portrait, and not only because it shows a handsome young couple on the cusp of their life together. I would stare at that portrait and think of what I knew would happen to them, and my great-grandmother Anna in particular, after they left the portrait studio. She would die after giving birth to her fifth child, her fifth daughter, at the age of thirty-three. My grandmother was five years old at the time, and she spent most of the rest of her childhood in foster homes. I was unsettled by the thought that Anna knew nothing of her future life, and I knew too much. I started wondering what we would have to say to one another if, through some temporal blip, we were granted an hour in each other’s company.
I started creating a family called the Morrigans, with a daughter, Lucy, who is so lonely in her crumbling ancestral home, and so ambitious, that she actually sets out to clone the dead. As I researched the possibility of human cloning, I learned that the function of what scientists call “junk DNA” is still a big question mark. Some say these seemingly useless codes in between our functioning genes had their purpose much earlier on in the course of human evolution, but are now obsolete. This mystery of science really captured my imagination. What if, in Lucy Morrigan’s fictional universe, “junk DNA” codes memories and physiological changes over time? So that when Lucy clones her grandmother from an old bloodstain, thinking she will give birth to a baby girl, she winds up with a young newlywed from 1929? So I set the stage for a rather unprecedented identity crisis when a young Mary Morrigan wakes up in the year of her 80th wedding anniversary, with all her memories intact. Needless to say, she’s pretty angry at this girl, Lucy, who is older than she is but claims to be her granddaughter.
My grandmother was an avid reader, and passed her love of a good yarn on to my mother, who passed it on to me. When I was in elementary school I wrote whimsical little stories, and I was fortunate to have many teachers who encouraged me. Some of them were so encouraging that I saw fit to name characters after them. My grandmother encouraged me, too, of course. But it was only after she passed away that I really started to see myself as a writer. I began to write as a way of dealing with my grief. So you might say my grandmother first made me a reader, and then, through the loss of her, a writer.
Oddly enough, I never thought about any of this until the novel was finished, and I began reading the first proof pages. But a novel about a girl who clones the grandmother who read to her as a child, played with her, humored her, protected her—well, when you put it that way, the psychology behind the story isn’t so complex. I dedicated Mary Modern to all four of my grandparents, but to my Grandma Dorothy most of all.
One of the best experiences in the process of publishing Mary Modern was being able to watch my mother devour the book in galley form. She read it in about twenty-four hours, and said most of the time she was so engrossed in the story she forgot who’d written it. We have a lot of books in our house. My mother sometimes jokes the bedroom floor is going to collapse under the weight of my bookcases. If that ever happens, though, I will tell her it is actually her own fault for reading to me too much when I was a kid.
John Ruskin said that if a book is worth reading, it’s worth buying, and I’ve always believed that; but there are other people, like my grandmother, who subscribe to the “that’s why we have the library” school of thought. Those people are more sensible than I am, I suppose; they will never have to worry about their ceiling caving in. Still, I enjoy not only reading but owning my books: making tick marks when I come across a particularly beautiful or clever sentence, and the ability to revisit a beloved book any time I choose. I also just like to glance over at my bookshelf, recognize the title on a spine, and remember how much I enjoyed it, or how much I’m looking forward to reading it. I am very taken with the idea of not only a room, but a library of one’s own.
It’s only recently, too, that I noticed how many of the story’s plot turns transpire in the Morrigan family library. I don’t think this is a coincidence. This is a room that holds thousands of books that once belonged to Lucy and Mary’s ancestors (and my heroines would probably tell you the books belong to them still). There is a velvet sofa before a grand old fireplace where the characters sometimes gather with a glass of wine for a long chat. There is a butterfly collection displayed on the mantelpiece and old portraits arranged on a great wood desk by a bay window. Every character in the novel harbors a fascination with this room, even if they aren’t a member of the family. The library is in essence a repository of family knowledge, and it also serves as a rather eerie metaphor: for oftentimes, the most profound family secrets are hidden in plain sight.
But no matter how grave the secrets or difficult the dynamics, I believe that the love, protection, and encouragement of the family can transcend death, and that’s a belief I’ve brought to bear in this novel. I guess what I’m really trying to say here is this:
Literacy is fostered through dedicated teachers and organizations like the Porch Club, but it begins on the lap of someone who loves you.
Fleet Library, part 2
(Fleet Library, part 1.)Here are some pictures from the Visual + Material Resource Center upstairs at the Fleet Library:
And look, an old friend!: 
